


Like You Walked Through My Door

by rippedoutgrace



Category: Pushing Daisies, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Everything is the same for Ned, For Dean At Least, Gen, Kidfic, M/M, Pie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-16 11:15:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2267673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rippedoutgrace/pseuds/rippedoutgrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ned doesn't like kids, really, he doesn't. (He might be changing his mind though.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [XxIrisxX](https://archiveofourown.org/users/XxIrisxX/gifts).



> I've never written kidfic before! But this is a long, long overdue fic for XxIrisxX, who has been so lovely and patient with me. I hope you don't mind me playing around a bit with the prompt! And of course, I hope you enjoy it <3
> 
> As a note, this is completely different and unrelated to the [Your Sweet Touch](http://archiveofourown.org/series/75559) series. Sorry, I just really like Dean and Ned together and I'll use any excuse to write them.
> 
> Comments and feedback are loved and appreciated!

There’s a small person staring expectantly at Ned from across the counter and he can hear the _thump-thump-thump_ of her swinging feet kicking the paneling underneath. He’s utterly nonplussed, mostly because she seems to be unattended and Ned’s no parent, but aren’t kids supposed to be supervised? Like, all the time?

 

“Hello,” she sing-songs at him and it takes him a good eight seconds to respond in kind.

 

“Um, so,” he nods at the menu she’s grasping between short little fingers. “Do you know what you want? Sorry, wait. Do you have money?” After all, he’s not running a charity here.

 

“I want peach pie. And no.”

 

They stare at each other for a long moment and Ned absently notes how vividly green her eyes are. He hates it, but he flinches first and turns to tell a passing Olive he needs a slice of peach.

 

“What’s wrong with your two hands, Ned?” Apparently Ned is getting the peach pie.

 

He keeps an eye on the girl the entire time he’s cutting out a slice from the pie tin, scanning the restaurant every few seconds looking for someone who might be missing a child. He sees no one of the sort and it’s making him antsy and nervous. Who abandons a kid like that?

 

Don’t answer that.

 

He slides the slice in front of her and watches as she digs in with relish. “Are you just gonna watch me eat it?” she asks, sounding genuinely curious instead of snarky. Ned has no idea how old she is but maybe she just hasn’t learned snark yet. Before he can answer her though (in the negative, of course he wasn’t going to just _stand_ there), Vivian and Lily sit down on either side of her and smile up at Ned. Well, Vivian smiles. Lily does not, but her eye patch is especially bedazzled today, Ned can’t help but notice.

 

“Viv-“ Ned starts at the same time the little girl says, “Where did you go?”

 

“You know them?” he asks her bemusedly. Last time he checked, Vivian and Lily weren’t adopting.

 

“Ned,” Vivian pats his hand gently. “This is Mary. She and her father just moved into the house across the street from us!”

 

“House across – wait, my house? You moved into my house?” he directs the last question to the little girl. Mary. The little girl named Mary eating peach pie. Who lives in his house.

 

She politely chews a bite of pie before putting her fork down on her plate and frowns at Ned. “It’s not your house. My dad bought it.”

 

“Okay, but it _was_ my house – “

 

“There was a For Sale sign in the yard.”

 

“Well, yes but that’s because I put the house up –“

 

“So it isn’t yours anymore.”

 

“No, not technically –“

 

“The pie is really good.”

 

“Thanks?”

 

Vivian and Lily are watching with rapt interest, heads bobbing back and forth like tennis spectators at the US Open. Lily appears to be enjoying it a little too much, Ned thinks, as she gifts the girl ( _Mary, her name is Mary_ ) with an encouraging smile. As if seeing Ned defeated by fourth grader logic is amusing.

 

Well, it probably is.

 

He catches a glimpse of Chuck through the glass doors and he shakes his head wildly and presses his lips together, hoping she’ll see him before it’s too late. Thankfully, she does and turns on her heel to dash away around the corner. “Ned, are you alright?” Vivian asks, bringing his attention back inside to where all three are now watching Ned with varying levels of concern, suspicion, and amusement.

 

“Fine,” he says faintly. Except that his heart is pounding and his palms are sweating and he can feel a throbbing begin behind his left eye. These close calls are so bad for his health, he thinks a little miserably. But his attention has been directed again to Mary and he can’t quite puzzle this out. “So you moved into my old house and…” he lets the thought hang, waiting for someone, anyone to fill in the blanks.

 

Finally, Lily jumps in. “She’s really quite the darling, and she loves the birds.” Mary nods enthusiastically at the mention, lighting up and opening her mouth to, no doubt, talk about the birds. Ned doesn’t like the birds so he cuts in over her.

 

“Right, so where’s her father? Where’s your father?” He’s not sure to whom this conversation should be pointed at anymore.

 

“At work,” all three of them chime in at the same time. Which clears precisely nothing up for Ned.

 

He tries a few more times but gets nothing of substance from any of them and finally gives up. He makes his rounds by the tables and heads into the storage room for more fruit. By the time he comes out, he’s not entirely surprised that Olive is cooing over Mary and he’s sure if Chuck could be in here, she’d be doing the same.

 

He doesn’t see them off or give them a second thought for the rest of the day. He doesn’t think of them again until three days later he turns around and Mary’s sitting at the counter, her feet _thump-thump-thumping_ against the wood panels. She’s smiling at him and he trips over his feet a little in his confusion. “Hi?”

 

“Hi,” she chirps. Ned nods like a bobble-head doll waiting for her to say something else but nothing seems to be forthcoming.

 

“Peach again?” he asks for a lack of something better to say.

 

She grins in agreement and when Ned comes back with the pie, Vivian and Lily are bracketing her again and he sighs deeply. “Olive, I’m taking a break,” he calls out, not even sure if Olive is nearby to hear him.

 

He pushes open the double doors and walks outside, immediately wishing he’d just stayed inside with how blazing hot it was. Summer, he thinks stupidly. It’s summer vacation and kids don’t have school. Well, that explains Vivian and Lily’s new fan. Kind of. Not really.

 

He kind of wishes he smoked so he’d have something to do with his hands or at least an excuse to be outside right now. Kids just make him…jumpy.

 

Maybe it’s his own crappy childhood that makes him so wary around them. Losing his mom, boarding school, dad leaving, dealing with a very strange ability – it all made for a pretty sad story, Ned thinks. Okay, he likes wallowing a little sometimes, sue him. But in any case, he has no idea how to handle kids, or even be around them. He’s just a not kid-person, he decides. And that’s fine.

 

It’s not until he sees them again for the fifth time in as many weeks that he gets curious against his will. It’s strange right? That this kid’s father hasn’t been seen once with her and it’s no short drive from Cœur d’Cœurs, so why are they around so often? And with the shut-in aunts who leave their house maybe once a year? Okay, Ned’s really curious. Just not curious enough to ask.

 

“…she’s just precious, and so clever!” Olive gushes to Chuck, and Ned doesn’t even have to ask.

 

“I wish I could meet her,” Chuck says with a little sulk. “She’s always here with my aunts though. She did draw the cutest little R2-D2 on a napkin the last time they were here…”

 

They keep on and Ned’s bewildered. Kids. He just doesn’t get it.

 

September comes and the visits to The Pie Hole come to a complete halt. Every time the door chimes open, Ned pokes his head out of the kitchen out of some unexplained need to know if it’s Mary again. It never is.

 

It’s not until mid-October that he hears a familiar _thump-thump-thump_ at the counter and he’s actually strangely happy to see her. He belatedly notes the bright blue backpack taking residence on the stool next to her. Oh right, school. Kids go to school in the fall.

 

“Peach again?” he asks, because it had become sort of a routine and Ned likes routine.

 

“And apple for me,” a deep voice adds and Ned looks up from where he’s hunched over the counter to be at Mary’s level into a pair of green eyes. That are just like Mary’s.

 

“Um, sorry, right,” he stumbles and he can feel a blush creeping up his neck as he straightens and looks at the man. The very, very handsome man standing next to Mary.

 

“Dad,” Mary tugs at the man’s leather jacket, which Ned notes looks exceptionally good on him, and he hikes a leg up and over the stool to sit next to her.

 

“What’s up, peanut?” Ned is trying very hard not to be stupidly charmed by the casual nickname. He’s not succeeding very well, damn it.

 

“That’s him, the man I told you about,” Mary informs him solemnly and the man’s eyebrows lift a bit and suddenly Ned’s worried, racking his brain for reasons that Mary would be talking about him. He didn’t say anything bad, right? He can’t remember, he can’t remember…

 

“Ah, so we’re living in your house then!” he grins and Ned goes a little weak at the knees with how the smile crinkles his eyes and lights up his entire face. Oh, right. The house. “I’m Dean, Dean Winchester.”

 

Ned shakes his outstretched hand and he likes the way it feels. Dean’s hands are dry and strong, slightly calloused but gentle. “I’m Ned. The proprietor,” he tacks on at the end and then rolls his eyes inwardly because he’s fully aware of how ridiculous that just sounded.

 

Dean’s answering smile should be categorized as a lethal weapon. “Well, it’s a pretty sweet place you’ve got here. Mary and me do love us some pie,” he nudges Mary conspiratorially and winks at her when she elbows him back.

 

“We do have pie,” Ned confirms and he takes the moment to flee to the kitchen to get his bearings. He’s not usually so… _attracted_ to people like this and oh, damn him, but he forgot to even check for a ring. He opens the freezer to stick his head inside for a minute, cooling his burning cheeks. Pull it together, Ned. He’s a customer, he’s a father, he’s probably married, come on.

 

He’s sliding two plates of apple and peach in front of the Winchesters with a friendly, courteous smile a few minutes later, determined to be professional at least. Until he sees Dean’s bare third finger on his left hand and professionalism leaves the premises.

 

“Did you change the house a lot?” Ned blurts out without thinking. Well, he was interested in the answer anyway, he reasons after he says it.

 

Dean swallows a bite of apple pie and Ned pointedly does not watch the stubbled (and freckled? God help him) skin of his throat work. “Yeah, actually, I’ve been working on it almost every day this past summer when I wasn’t at work. The ladies across the street were such a huge help, too,” he replies and Ned nods like he’s following along. He mostly is anyway, only a little distracted by Dean himself. “They helped me watch after Mary since she wasn’t in school yet. And a house being remodeled or a salvage yard aren’t the best places for a kid to hang out. Right kiddo?”

 

“You work at a salvage yard?” he asks (pries, he’s prying. He’s never asked a customer anything beyond their order before this). Dean nods and looks relaxed as he cuts a piece of pie and tucks Mary’s hair behind her ear with the other hand.

 

“Yeah, my friend, well, more like a dad in any case, owns it up near Cœur d’Cœurs and he had an accident a while back. He’s getting around fine in his chair but I’ve been working there on and off since I was a teenager so it just made sense for me to, you know?”

 

Ned is suddenly very, very sorry he never saw Dean in all the years he lived in Cœur d’Cœurs. Though he supposes he wouldn’t have been around when Dean was there anyway, if he was only there during his teenage years. No matter. He’s still sorry.

 

Dean’s still talking between bites and Ned can’t quite force himself away to leave them in peace. There’s something magnetic about Dean, some _thing_ that makes Ned want to hang onto his every word and never be anywhere else. “You should come up sometime,” Dean’s saying and Ned frowns a little, lost. “To the house,” Dean clarifies. “It’s fixed up pretty good actually. What do you think, hon?”

 

“Yeah, it’s pretty,” Mary agrees amiably. “You can come for dinner, Ned. Right, Dad? Can he?”

 

“Only if he brings a pie,” Dean teases with a wink in Ned’s direction. Ned is only flustered for a second before he finds himself nodding.

 

“I can do that.” 

 

Dean and Mary's answering smiles are blinding. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updating the tags as I go! Enjoy!

Ned sees Dean and Mary twice more at The Pie Hole before Dean extends his invitation again.

 

“It’s actually going to be a little bit of a party, man. A really late housewarming, I guess?” Dean tells him while waving his fork in the air to punctuate his thoughts. “My brother is coming up to visit and some friends are passing near this way soon so I thought I’d just make it all one big shindig.”

 

Shindig. Ned cannot get over how cute Dean is sometimes.

 

“Da-ad,” Mary grumbles from what Ned has mentally deemed her place at the counter. “We have to invite Vivian and Lily, too.”

 

Dean gently knuckles her jaw with a little clicking sound of his tongue. “Already did, kiddo. She’s obsessed with them,” he chuckles to Ned. “Dear Mermaids? Or something?”

 

“Darling Mermaid Darlings,” Mary and Ned inform him at the same time, and they all share a grin.

 

“Well, I’d love to,” Ned jumps in after a moment of companionable silence and he can’t help but smile when Mary claps pie-sticky hands together in childish delight.

 

“It’s gonna be so cool, right Dad?”

 

“The coolest,” Dean promises with a solemn nod.

 

A week later, Ned and Olive are standing at the door of his old house (and he’s really got to stop calling it that), holding a pie box each. Olive’s bouncing slightly on her toes and Ned fears for the safety of the pie for a moment. “Is this enough? Don’t you bring a candle or wine or something to a housewarming? I mean, I know he said bring a pie, but was he actually serious? Maybe we should just go,” Ned rambles a mile a minute. He’s halfway to turning around, shaking off Olive’s death grip on his jacket, before the door swings open and it’s not often that Ned can look someone straight in the eye, but this guy might actually have an inch on him.

 

“Thought I heard someone out here. Come on in, I’m Sam. Dean’s brother,” he says, outstretched hand shaking Olive’s and then Ned’s. “Oh, man. Are these pies?” Sam takes Olive’s box and lifts it to his nose.

 

“Sure are!” Olive winks at him and Ned is too nervous to be scandalized right now. Just because Dean’s brother wants pie doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have brought a bottle of wine, too. Or a candle. He’s still not sure.

 

Sam laughs, “Well, I know two people who are gonna be very happy about that. Come on, everyone’s out back already.”

 

Ned hasn’t said anything yet but it’s _strange_ being back in this house. It was dated and falling apart when Ned was a kid and in the years since, it had all but collapsed on itself. But Dean has turned it into something incredibly warm and inviting.

 

The entire place is freshly painted and the floral wallpaper his mother was never quite happy with has been stripped away. He can’t put his finger on why it feels so much larger than it did when he was a kid, which doesn’t even make sense, until he follows Sam and Olive right through where a wall used to be.

 

As they traipse through the house to get to the back door, Ned can see little touches of the new residents everywhere. A leather couch and loveseat sit kitty corner in the living room, car magazines and well-worn paperbacks stacked almost neatly on the coffee table in the center of the room. When they pass through the kitchen, Mary’s assorted and eclectic artwork hangs proudly on the fridge. A whiteboard schedule on the wall hangs low enough that Ned assumes Mary could reach it, with scribbles indicating the Mary has softball on Tuesdays and Dean has a dentist appointment next Thursday. It feels almost invasive, Ned thinks, walking through someone’s home like this.

 

Ned can’t even call this his old home anymore. Dean and Mary have clearly made it their own. The thought doesn’t make his as depressed as he thought it would and they’ve obviously shown this house a lot of love.

 

Sam opens the back door and ushers them through, onto a stained wood deck that definitely was not there when Ned lived here. He blinks down at it while Sam and Olive take the steps to the left. Dean didn’t just make some changes – he created it a brand new house. There’s a swing set to the side of the backyard where he can see Mary and a fiery redhead laughing as she pushes Mary higher and higher.

 

“Ned!” Dean waves at him from the grill where he’s standing with his brother and two other men, one in a wheelchair wearing a ratty ballcap. Ned wonders if he's the sort-of-father whose salvage yard Dean took over. Olive seems to have wandered off towards Mary and Ned jogs down the stairs, realizing he’s still got the pie in his hands.

 

“Dean, hi.”

 

“Glad you could make it, man,” Dean says, and Ned thinks he actually looks pleased to see him. “You met Sam, right? This is Cas, Bobby, and over there,” he waves with his spatula, “is Charlie. She’s trying to steal my kid I’m pretty sure.” At Ned’s obvious alarm, Dean laughs, “Kidding. Well, maybe not.”

 

“Glad you could make it, son,” Bobby all but growls, and then pays him no more mind, turning back to Sam to discuss… Ned isn’t even sure they’re speaking English. Sounds like ancient Greek to him.

 

Cas stretches a hand out to Ned and shakes it so formally that Ned almost isn’t sure how to react. “It’s a pleasure, Ned.”

 

“Yeah, you too,” Ned replies and when Cas looks away, he has to let out a breath. He’s never had such an intense three-second introduction before. And good God, were the man’s eyes _blue_.

 

“Cas is a little intense,” Dean chuckles quietly to Ned. “He’s a good guy though. Pulled me out of some trouble a while back and he’s – he’s someone you want on your side.” He clears his throat as if he’s given too much away but as far as Ned is concerned, he hasn’t given enough. He’s curious about the trouble Dean was in, how Cas helped him. Curious about Dean in general he guesses.

 

(Like where is Mary’s mother?)

 

As if she knew she was being pondered, Mary suddenly rushes at Dean, barreling into his legs, her face smushed against his belly. “Hey, we have company, little miss.” Dean pokes at her until she turns to peer up at Ned.

 

“Hey, bud!”

 

Dean rolls his eyes. “I have no idea where she got that from. Come on, Mare, a real hello.”

 

“Hi, Ned,” she giggles as she pulls and hangs onto Dean’s hand, her little body nearly forty-five degrees between Dean and the ground. “Look at me!”

 

“I am,” he tells her, perplexed. As if he could miss it. Kids, he thinks. Such strange little creatures.

 

Dean pulls her upright again and wraps his arm around her shoulders. “Hey, bud, grab me a beer, would’ya?” he calls to Cas.

 

Ned can’t help the snorting laughing that escapes. “I think I know where Mary learned it from. Or I should say _who_.”

 

Mary grins and Dean looks confused, eyes glancing to the side as he thinks. And then he blushes when he realizes. “Oh.” He glances back at the house and looks relieved. “Viv! Lily!”

 

Mary lets out a little squeal and runs to drag the sisters off the deck. “You’re here!”

 

“Said we’d come, kid,” Lily tells her gruffly, but she isn’t fooling anyone, least of all Mary, who’s enthusiastically chattering away.

 

Ned isn’t really one for parties but he finds he actually has a nice time. They eat outside on two folding tables wedged together and Ned’s seated between Charlie and Sam, both of whom are entertaining and kind. Charlie even promises to send him a video game that he “ _has_ to get in on” and he forgets entirely that he doesn’t own a game system.

 

Dean’s seated across from him, and Ned is incredibly charmed by how good of a dad he is to Mary, attentive but not smothering. He’s equally charmed by how Mary seems to take care of him in turn.

 

“They’re something, aren’t they?” Sam nods at them when he catches Ned staring. “I never even knew Dean liked kids, but he’s a natural with her.”

 

“They are,” he agrees. And they really are. It’s… sweet and Ned wishes he had something so perfect. For the first time in his life, he contemplates what it would be like to be a father. It’s maybe not as repugnant as he thought it might be. How about that?

 

Mary insists on a game of kickball after they’ve been lounging around for a while, having already finished off _both_ of Ned’s pies (he’s pleased). Olive groans and Vivian looks horrified. “Kickball? Perhaps Lily and I will keep score?” she asks hopefully. Bobby snorts and pulls a pencil and scrap of paper from somewhere.

 

Dean, on the other hand, is delighted, rubbing his hands together and chuckling gleefully at his daughter. “Gotta go easy on ‘em, baby.”

 

“Not a chance, Dad.”

 

“That’s my girl.”

 

Ned starts to think a friendly game of kickball is a little more intense in the Winchester household than he remembers from his childhood.

 

Someone produces a ball from somewhere and Mary takes charge directing everyone to their places and designating the bases, only occasionally looking to her dad for approval or guidance. Dean’s generous with his praise and gentle with his corrections (“Maybe move third base back a few feet, what d’ya think? That looks good, peanut.”) and Ned has to be physically dragged by Charlie to his place at first base.

 

“They’re cute,” Charlie laughs to Ned. “Every time I come to visit, they’re just doin’ their own thing and it works for them, you know?”

 

Ned’s starting to see that.

 

Dean insists loudly that Mary take first kick and she hops to it, lining the ball up on the ground and even throwing an arm in the air pointing to the far fence. Everyone cracks up, Dean the loudest of them all. “Dean just showed her _The Sandlot_ ,” Charlie calls to Ned from her position at shortstop. “She called to quote the whole movie to me – whoa!”

 

Mary does indeed manage to get the ball near the fence, flying over Charlie’s head, and the game is on.

 

Ned doesn’t remember having so much fun in his life. Particularly memorable was crashing into Dean who guarded second base on his turn and they ended up in a laughing, tangled heap. Dean’s shy blush is permanently imprinted in his brain as he offered a hand up. He can still feel Dean’s hand in his own, gritty from the dirt and sweat.

 

As dusk settles and everyone starts winding down - Cas, Charlie, and Sam apparently staying with Dean for a few days, so they head inside with friendly and warm goodbyes and so-good-to-meet-you’s (Bobby rolled away some time ago) – Ned tells Dean as much. “This was great, Dean. Really. Thank you so much for inviting us.”

 

He waves it off, stretching slightly and Ned tries desperately to keep his eyes on Dean’s face and not the pale strip of skin exposed above his jeans. “My pleasure, seriously man. You’re a hit with my kid - Mary couldn’t stop talking about you all summer and I can see why.”

 

That wasn’t at all what Ned was expecting and his heart stutters a little. Why it’s so important that he has the approval of an eight year old is a mystery, but he’s happy about it. “She’s a great kid, Dean, really.” He’s not even saying it just to say it. He really means it. Stretching a hand out, he tells Dean, “Well, I hope you both come back to The Pie Hole soon.”

 

Dean laughs and takes his hand but turns it into a firm hug. Ned’s just tall enough that Dean’s nose brushes his throat as they part and Ned shivers a little, even though the night is fair and warm.

 

“You can count on it. Uh!” Dean grunts as Mary throws herself against his legs. “Oh, man. Someone’s worn out, huh?” He lifts Mary easily onto a hip and she immediately wraps her arms around his neck, burying her face under his ear. “Bath time, honey. Hmm?”

 

Ned excuses himself and grabs Olive to leave. He lets her chatter the entire way home as he thinks about the Winchesters and how he shouldn’t feel so comfortable with people he just met. And yet… he does.  


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the end! I thought about another chapter but I liked the natural conclusion to this one and decided against it. Thanks for reading!

Ned doesn’t see them for Thanksgiving, but it’s fine. Dean even offered an invitation to his friend Benny’s house for the holiday but Ned declined. Unlike Cas and Charlie and Sam, Ned has never met Benny and he really has to draw the line somewhere at imposing on Dean’s friends.

 

Dean assures him the day before he and Mary hit the road, bundling her up tight before leaving The Pie Hole. Ned takes a picture on his phone of Mary comically wrapped in layers and scarves and mittens until she can barely walk. She tries to stick her tongue out but she just gets fuzz from her scarf and she hacks and coughs it out. “Gross,” she complains.

 

“Maybe it’s a sign you shouldn’t stick your tongue out at people,” Dean teases before tucking her hair under the bright red hat he settles on her head. “You sure you don’t want to come? Benny said he was cool with it and he’d love to meet you. Plus he’s a great cook.”

 

Ned shakes his head. “I’ll be fine here, but you guys have a good time.”

 

Thanksgiving is quiet. He and Chuck and Emerson don’t do much. Olive spends the day with Vivian and Lily and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade on T.V. is about as exciting as things get in Ned’s apartment. That and Digby trying to steal a bite out of the turkey.

 

He wonders what Dean and Mary are doing right now. If they’re sitting down to dinner. If Mary is telling the story about the class frog getting loose and if Dean laughs as heartily and loudly as he did the first three times Mary told it. Ned’s heard it twice now, but he has to admit, it’s an amusing story with Mary as the heroine of the day catching the escaped prisoner.

 

Dean and Mary don’t come by The Pie Hole again until mid-December. He does call Ned twice though, once to ask about his Thanksgiving and again to invite him to Mary’s Christmas play. Ned tells himself that he just has nothing better to do that night, but he knows he actually is looking forward to it. He can only imagine Mary hamming it up and Dean clapping loudly for her.

 

Ned finds Dean near the center of the third row in Mary’s school auditorium. Sam is fiddling with his camera and Charlie gives him an enthusiastic hug. “Where’s Cas?”

 

“I’m here,” Cas grumbles from behind Ned. “I don’t see why I had to go get all this.”

 

“You lost rock-paper-scissors, man. We’ve been over this,” Dean explains patiently. “Alright, let’s see it.”

 

Cas holds up a plastic grocery sack from two fingers and drops it in Dean’s lap. “Merry Christmas,” he deadpans.

 

Dean rummages through the bag and Ned peers over into what looks like an incredible assortment of junk food. “You brought candy to a kids play?”

 

Everyone makes general noises of assent and Dean begins distributing the goods. Ned finds himself with a handful of Twizzlers and a sharing a bag of gummy worms with Cas. The lights dim and the kids tramp onstage.

 

It’s a disaster. It’s also the most fun Ned’s had in a while.

 

Mary has a single line in the play and can’t seem to remember it, so she improvises and Sam’s camera shakes with how hard he’s laughing. When it ends, they all give a standing ovation, Dean’s whistles are piercingly loud and the other parents gives them dirty looks. Ned's cheeks hurt from laughing and smiling. 

 

When Mary finds them, Dean lifts her onto his shoulders like a conquering hero and she high-fives everyone with her red felt claws. Ned’s a little smug that he got a high-five _and_ a fist bump. “Honey, that wasn’t your line was it?”

 

“Dad, that was so dumb. Uncle Bobby said there weren’t even lobsters when baby Jesus was born. So if they weren’t there, they can't have lines, right?”

 

Well, it’s hard to argue with that logic.

 

As everyone piles into Dean’s huge, sleek Impala, Dean pauses at the driver’s door to turn to Ned. “Thanks for coming tonight, Ned. It meant a lot to Mary and – and to me.”

 

Maybe Ned’s on a sugar rush from all the candy and not thinking clearly but he’s never wanted to kiss someone so badly as he does right now. He even unconsciously leans forward before his eyes widen with realization. He takes a step back and waves to everyone inside the car, ignoring the identical smirks they’re all wearing. “I’ll see you soon, Dean.”

 

“Oh, hey!” Dean calls out. “We’re having Christmas dinner on the 24th. We’d love it – _I’d_ love it if you could come.”

 

“That’d be really nice,” Ned agrees softly. He can’t actually remember the last time someone invited him for Christmas. Probably boarding school. Maybe not even then.

 

The 24th is cold and wet and Ned has to blast the heater in his car all the way to Dean’s house lest he shiver to death.  When he pulls up to the curb, he’s not at all surprised that the entire house is decorated in multicolored lights and plastic reindeer stand guard in the lawn. He imagines Mary had a hand in most of it. He also imagines Dean didn’t mind in the least.

 

He steels himself for the frigid temperature as he dashes from his car to the front porch and raps quickly at the door, shifting from one foot to the other just in case he freezes to the spot. The door swings open and a big bear of a man stand on the other side and Ned almost turns away, thinking it’s the wrong house, until the man breaks into a wide smile. “You must be Ned,” he rumbles, heavy Southern accent tingeing his words. “I’m Benny, come on in, brother.”

 

Benny chats amiably with him and Ned forgets to be nervous around him as a new acquaintance because Benny is just so damn nice. He even takes Ned’s coat and hangs it in the front hallway before leading him further in.

 

The house is equally festive inside and Ned makes a note to tell Mary how much he loves the paper snowflakes on the windows and doors. He doesn’t have to wait long as Mary rushes to greet him. “Ned! We’ve been waiting and waiting and Dad kept saying you were coming but you weren’t here!”

 

“Am I late?” Ned looks worriedly at his watch. Dean told him to be here at 6:30 and it’s 6:32, so not _late_ late, just a little late.

 

Benny chuckles. “You’re right on time, don’t worry about it. Someone’s just a little excited, hmm?”

 

“She’s been up since seven this morning,” Dean groans to them as they walk into the kitchen. “It’s not even actual Christmas yet.” He looks alarmed for a moment. “Baby, _please_ don’t get up before six tomorrow morning. Glad you’re here, Ned.” He gives Ned a warm hug and hands him a glass of eggnog. “Let’s get this party goin’ then, folks!”

 

As always, Ned has a fantastic time. He even gets talking with Benny, who’s made his fair share of pies and Ned’s actually a little sorry he didn’t go to Thanksgiving with them. Benny genuinely seems like the kind of guy to welcome any and all visitors into his home and maybe Dean wasn’t lying when he said Benny wouldn’t mind if Ned tagged along. Oh well.

 

He does, however, get a little nervous when Mary insists on exchanging gifts. Maybe he should have actually bought something for everyone but he figured he should stick with what he’s good at. So he clears his throat to get their attention. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go first since my gifts to you all are perishable.”

 

He opens the box he brought and hands Mary a peach cup pie and Dean an apple. Everyone else he had to guess since they’ve never been to The Pie Hole before, but by the looks of it, he guessed pretty well. Mary digs in right away but pauses to fling her arms around him and gives him a sticky peach kiss on his cheek.

 

Everyone else’s gifts are simple but thoughtful and Ned wraps the scarf Dean gives him around his neck. “I love it, Dean. Thank you.” Dean gives him a pleased, shy smile in return. 

 

He finds himself sitting next to Dean on the floor, backs against the couch where Charlie and Mary are stretched out next to each other, as they all watch _A Christmas Story_. “Dad, can I have a BB gun, too?”

 

Charlie and Sam say, “No!” at the same time Dean hums thoughtfully, “Maybe.”

 

Bobby smacks the top of Dean’s head with his ever-present baseball cap and calls him an “idjit”. Benny exchanges an amused look with Ned and Cas seems to have missed the entire conversation.

 

When the credits start rolling and Charlie turns the T.V. off, Ned climbs to his feet. His ass is numb from sitting on the ground and he gives out hugs (to Charlie and Mary and oddly enough, Cas) and handshakes (to Sam, Bobby, and Benny). Dean jumps up too and says, “I’ll walk you out” before Ned can offer a hand.

 

Dean grabs a coat as Ned bundles up in the hallway. They don’t speak until Dean opens the door and Ned steps out, immediately shivering from the temperature change. “Well…” Dean starts.

 

“I –“

 

They’re interrupted by a giggle from behind Dean. Charlie covers her mouth with one hand and points to the top of the door. Ned and Dean both look up.

 

“That wasn’t there when I came in,” Ned says, confused as he stares at the mistletoe.

 

“My family is a bunch of assholes,” Dean grumbles and rolls his eyes. “I know it wasn’t Mary or Bobby, so someone…”

 

Ned feels his heart falling a little. “You don’t have to if you don’t want,” he breaks in hastily. “Who’s gonna know if you don’t?” The last thing he wants is a kiss from the man he’s slowly been falling in love with if the man doesn’t want it too.

 

Dean raises his eyebrows, surprised. “Who said anything about not wanting to?”

 

“You do?”

 

“I want,” Dean says firmly before pulling Ned down by his brand-new scarf and kisses him.

 

Ned expected a quick peck, but it’s so sweet and slow and thorough, it makes Ned’s chest hurt with how good it is. Dean pulls away after a bit but rests his forehead against Ned’s. “Wow,” he chuckles. “Been wanting to do that for a while.”

 

“Yeah?” He feels giddy. Can’t help but smile at Dean whose cold nose is still pressed against his own.

 

They’re startled into breaking apart when someone starts clapping behind them. Ned feels his entire face go up in flames when sees everyone including Mary poking their heads into the hall and grinning at them. “Oh my God,” Dean complains. “Go away, all of you. Except my kid. I only like her.”

 

Mary bounds up to them and hugs both of their legs together. “Merry Christmas, everyone!”

 

Ned smiles down at her and then at Dean. It has been a good Christmas, he thinks. Better than any he’s ever had. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catch the _Love Actually_ nod? ;) 
> 
> I also think this is the end of Dean and Ned for me. I have no immediate plans to write another story with them, but I do have several other projects going on right now so find me at [my blog](http://thosehawkeyes.tumblr.com) for updates!


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